Took this on the canal at Alrewas, Staffordshire, UK a few days ago. The beak is a bit blurry - does it bother anyone. ( Have PShopped it but might do some more work ).

All comments appreciated.

Graeme

Great balance achieved there - not always possible with those kinds of shapes in a vertical. Another reason to love the Hasselblad 500 Series!

Had you not mentioned the bill, I wouldn't have noticed anything - still don't at that scale, so why worry about it? Can't have everything all the time, and maybe just as well. Very pleasing exactly as it is.

Took this on the canal at Alrewas, Staffordshire, UK a few days ago. The beak is a bit blurry - does it bother anyone. ( Have PShopped it but might do some more work ).

I don't think the slight blur is noticeable enough to matter at all. I like the shot, and I even quite like the feeling of vertigo it inspires. The only alteration I might make is to clone out the reeds at the top: they don't seem necessary.

I don't think the slight blur is noticeable enough to matter at all. I like the shot, and I even quite like the feeling of vertigo it inspires. The only alteration I might make is to clone out the reeds at the top: they don't seem necessary.

The reeds at the top are actually quite important to me. I like them because they're part of a chain of visual elements which fall in from the edge of the image ( and from the world outside the photo ) and culminate at the beak of the swan.

Yes Walter, I've had a quick play at a B&W version. It could probably do with a little adjustment brush work & curve tweaking but I'm pleased with it so far.

Nicely elegant composition. I think the color dynamic between the reeds and the beak is an important contract to the dynamic line mirroring of those two elements, so I think the color version is much stronger.

The picture needs to be in color and the reeds are essential; without them there's really no picture: just a snap of a bird from up on the bridge.

Once again, I find I have to agree with you. It's a fine image as first presented to us. Does zich in black/white as per the latest version. Very often one should stick with first impressions. I regret having seen the black/white.

I like the extraneous stalks, they make the thing look more "real," a little more lively, a little less black velvet background. If they were really obtrusive, I might feel differently. For that reason I also like the dark reflections at the bottom of the frame.